US Rejects Attack on
Guantanamo

DAVID NASON / The Australian
(Sydney) 18feb2006

New York — The US has angrily dismissed a report by five UN human rights
rapporteurs calling for the immediate closure of the controversial terrorist
detention centre at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.

The report, released in Geneva on Thursday, says the 500 detainees — among
them Australia's David Hicks — have suffered torture and other inhumane
treatment and have been denied basic legal rights such as a speedy trial. It
says holding prisoners without charge for years on end amounts to arbitrary
detention and the US should immediately try the detainees or set them free.
While not unexpected, the findings drew a hostile response from the White House
where the 54-page report was branded a "discredit to the UN".

Spokesman Scott McClelland said Guantanamo Bay housed "dangerous
terrorists" and told the UN it should be investigating serious breaches of
human rights in other parts of the world, not rehashing old and false
allegations against a democracy like the US. "It is a discredit to the UN
when a team like this goes about rushing to report something when they haven't
even looked into the facts," Mr McClelland said. "All they've done is
look at the allegations."

The rapporteurs produced their report without actually visiting Guantanamo
Bay.

They refused a US invitation to visit when told they would not be allowed to
interview any of the detainees.

The report ends with a demand that the UN be allowed unrestricted access to
Guantanamo Bay, including the right to private interviews with detainees.

Attached to the report was a scathing letter from the US ambassador in
Geneva, Kevin Moley, accusing the rapporteurs of ignoring material provided by
the US.

Mr Moley said the US was particularly bewildered by the finding that the
medically supervised force-feeding of hunger strikers sometimes amounted to
torture. But as always the central point of dispute was the US view that
Guantanamo Bay holds enemy combatants from the US's ongoing war with al-Qa'ida.

Mr Moley said this meant the International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights did not apply to the detainees, a legal position the rapporteurs reject.

"They (the rapporteurs) have relied on international human rights
instruments, declarations, standards or general comments of treaty bodies
without serious analysis of whether the instruments, by their terms, apply
extraterritorially," Mr Moley said.

However, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan appeared to back the broad thrust of
the report when he said that "sooner or later" Guantanamo Bay would
have to be closed.

He said he hoped the US would reach this decision "as soon as
possible". Mr Annan also expressed concern about prisoners being held
"in perpetuity" without trial.

"The basic premise that we need to be careful to have a balance between
effective action against terrorism and individual liberties and civil rights, I
think is valid," Mr Annan said.

Ironically the report came down as delicate negotiations for a new UN Human
Rights Council reached a sensitive stage in New York. Last year, Mr Annan
decided to back a US-led campaign to replace the Human Rights Commission, saying
it had become the most discredited element of the UN family.

British Cabinet Minister John Bellinger Joins UN in Calls for
Closure of Guantanamo Bay Prison

"When
a Muslim dies in Guantanamo Bay, the Titanic will have hit the iceberg
and if you think we've had problems with these terrible cartoons, if you
think we've had problems with Abu Ghraib – it's going to pale into
insignificance compared to a Muslim dying in Guantanamo Bay."

— Clive
Stafford Smith is a legal representative for some of the Guantanamo
detainees

ELEANOR HALL: A British Cabinet Minster has joined
the United Nations in calling for the closure of the US detention facility at
Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.

The White House has labelled the UN report, which also refers to torture, a
"discredit" to the organisation and has rejected its
recommendations.

But the release of the UN report has come just as three British residents held
at Guantanamo Bay have won permission to seek a High Court order requiring the
UK Government to petition for their release.

The judge found that claims of torture at the US facility meant the government
might have an obligation to act on their behalf.

From Washington, Kim Landers reports.

KIM LANDERS: The controversy over Guantanamo Bay
began not long after the first detainees arrived more than four years ago.

But it wasn't until today that the UN Human Rights Commission released the
findings of its first inquiry into the prison.

Many of the allegations in the report have been made before and even its
recommendations are no surprise because the document had already been largely
leaked.

Nevertheless, the report is damning. It recommends shutting down Guantanamo
Bay and says interrogation techniques, such as the use of dogs, extreme
temperatures and sleep deprivation, amount to torture.

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has cast doubt on
the future of the camp.

KOFI ANNAN: And I think sooner or later there will
be a need to close the Guantanamo, and I think it will be up to the Government
to decide and hopefully to do it as soon as possible.

KIM LANDERS: But White House spokesman Scott
McClellan has made it clear the Bush administration won't budge.

SCOTT MCCLELLAND: I think what we're seeing is a
rehash of allegations that have been made by lawyers representing some of
these detainees. We know that these are dangerous terrorists that are being
kept at Guantanamo Bay. They're people that are determined to harm innocent
civilians or harm innocent Americans. They were enemy combatants picked up on
the battlefield in the war on terrorism.

KIM LANDERS: The five UN investigators who
compiled the report didn't go to Guantanamo Bay because the US wouldn't allow
them to privately interview detainees.

That hasn't stopped State Department lawyer John Bellinger from criticising
their report.

JOHN BELLINGER: It's really quite remarkable to
see that they would take, without any dose of scepticism, things that are
being said by the detainees and worse, by their lawyers who are their
advocates.

KIM LANDERS: The UN report has sparked a renewed
clamour of criticism of Guantanamo Bay, which holds about 500 suspected
terrorists, including Australian David Hicks.

The European Parliament has today passed a resolution endorsing the findings.
Despite their shared effort with the US to defeat terrorism, European leaders
are uncomfortable about Guantanamo Bay.

Before her visit to the Washington last month, German leader Angela Merkel
said Guantanamo had to be brought to an end. British Prime Minister Tony Blair
feels the same.

Clive Stafford Smith is a legal representative for some of the Guantanamo
detainees. He says the UN's findings could fuel anger among Muslims already
incensed by newly released images of Iraqi inmates being abused at the Abu
Ghraib prison.

CLIVE STAFFORD SMITH: It's an iconic symbol of
hatred around the world, where the world looks at us and says you preach about
democracy and the rule of law and yet you're behaving as hypocrites and
ignoring that in Guantanamo.

KIM LANDERS: And he's added this warning.

CLIVE STAFFORD SMITH: When a Muslim dies in
Guantanamo Bay, the Titanic will have hit the iceberg and if you think we've
had problems with these terrible cartoons, if you think we've had problems
with Abu Ghraib – it's going to pale into insignificance compared to a
Muslim dying in Guantanamo Bay.

For its part, the Bush administration denies any international laws are being
broken and it's just as emphatic that the Guantanamo detainees are being
treated humanely.

“The United States government should close down the Guantanamo Bay
detention centre and to refrain from any practice amounting to torture, or
cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment,” the report said.

“Attempts by the United States administration to redefine ‘torture’ in
the framework of the struggle against terrorism in order to allow certain
interrogation techniques that would not be permitted under the
internationally-accepted definition of torture are of utmost concern.

“The confusion with regard to authorized and unauthorized interrogation
techniques over the last years is particularly alarming.”

Kevin Moley, the US ambassador to the UN in Geneva, responded that the
investigation had taken little account of evidence provided by the US and that
the authors had turned down an invitation to visit Guantanamo.

“It is particularly unfortunate that the special rapporteurs rejected the
invitation and that their unedited report does not reflect the direct, personal
knowledge that this visit would have provided,” he said.

The Amnesty International in a statement said that Guantánamo Bay had become
a symbol of injustice and abuse in Washington’s “war on terror”. It must
be closed down.

The AI said the unlawful detention of ‘enemy combatants’ at the US Naval
Base at Guantánamo Bay had now entered its fifth year.

Hundreds of people of around 35 nationalities remain held in a legal black
hole, many without access to any court, legal counsel or family visits.

Many of these detainees say they have been subjected to torture or other
cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. In desperation, some detainees have
attempted suicide. Others have gone on prolonged hunger strikes, being kept
alive only through painful force feeding measures, the AI noted.

AFP adds: The US rejected demands that it should close the Guantanamo
detention centre.

With new challenges to be made to the US Supreme Court this week and new war
crimes trials about to get under way at the camp this month, the White House
insisted that the 500 detainees were treated humanely and that they remained a
threat.

“These are dangerous terrorists that we’re talking about that are there,”
White House spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters. “The military treats the
detainees humanely.”

Mr McClellan said that ‘nothing’s changed’ in the US opinion of whether
the Guantanamo camp should close. He suggested that allegations of abuse
amounting to torture at the camp were propaganda by militants trained to make
such charges.

“We know Al Qaeda detainees are trained in trying to disseminate false
allegations,” he said. “Some of this, from the reporting I’ve seen,
appears to be a rehash of some of the allegations that have been made by lawyers
for some of the detainees.”

Mr McClellan said the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) had
full access to the camp.

The ICRC says it visits the camp every two-to-three months for six weeks and
helps detainees remain in contact with their families.

“We have complete access,” said Simon Schorno, an ICRC spokesman in
Washington, and added that recommendations were made to the camp commanders and
the authorities in Washington but these were kept confidential.

A US State Department official reiterated that it was holding the inmates “in
full compliance with international law and obligations.”

source: http://www.dawn.com/2006/02/17/top5.htm
17feb2006

UN Report Blasts Gitmo Camp:
Annan Says U.S. Should Close Prison

CP / Winnipeg Sun (Canada) 17feb2006

WASHINGTON — The White House rejected a scathing United Nations report
yesterday that says the United States should shut down its prison camp in
Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and either release or put all the detainees on trial.

Only a handful have appeared before military tribunals, including Omar Khadr,
the only Canadian held there.

The 54-page report blasts the "arbitrary detention" of some 500
suspected terrorists, while taking aim at the special military tribunal system,
saying the U.S. government "operates as judge, prosecutor and defence
counsel."

Secretary General Kofi Annan backed the report, saying Washington should
close the prison as soon as possible.

"I think sooner or later there will be a need to close the Guantanamo
(camp), and I think it will be up to the government to decide, and hopefully to
do it as soon as is possible," Annan said.

'REHASH'

White House spokesman Scott McClellan dismissed the report, by five human
rights experts and 18 months in the making, as a "rehash" of
allegations from lawyers for some of the detainees.

"We know that these are dangerous terrorists. They are trained to
provide false information," he said.

A lawyer for Khadr, 19, said the report provides an opportunity for Canada to
take a stand.

"My hope is that Canada will now feel it can join the rest of the
international community in speaking out to condemn Guantanamo and the military
tribunals," said Muneer Ahmad. "The White House has backed itself into
a corner. What's more interesting to me is what Canada now does. This
strengthens their hand in protecting one of their own citizens."

Only a handful of prisoners, including Khadr, have been formally charged and
have made appearances at hearings on the American naval base at the southeast
tip of Cuba since the camp opened in early 2002.

Charged with murdering an American medic in a grenade attack and aiding
al-Qaida in Afghanistan, Khadr was captured in 2002 and sent to Guantanamo that
October, just after he turned 16.

The UN report said photos and testimony from former Guantanamo prisoners
revealed many were shackled, chained, hooded and beaten. The use of prolonged
isolation, dogs, extreme temperatures and sleep deprivation amounts to torture,
said the experts.

The prisoners "are entitled to challenge the legality of their detention
before a judicial body," they said in a statement, "and to obtain
release if detention is found to lack a proper legal basis."

The findings were based on interviews, public documents, media reports,
lawyers and a questionnaire filled out by the U.S. government.

The five investigators were appointed by the UN Human Rights Commission. They
worked independently and were not paid, although their expenses were covered by
the UN.

U.S. Should Close Guantanamo Prison: Annan

EDITH M. LEDERER / Chicago Sun-Times 17feb2006

NEW YORK — Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Thursday said the United States
should close the prison at Guantanamo Bay for terror suspects as soon as
possible, backing a key conclusion of a U.N.-appointed independent panel.

White House spokesman Scott McClellan rejected the call to shut the camp,
saying the military treats all detainees humanely and ''these are dangerous
terrorists that we're talking about.''

The panel's report, released Thursday in Geneva, said the United States must
close the detention facility ''without further delay'' because it is effectively
a torture camp where prisoners have no access to justice.

Annan told reporters he didn't necessarily agree with everything in the
report, but he did support its opposition to people being held ''in perpetuity''
without being charged and prosecuted in a public court. This is ''something that
is common under every legal system,'' he said.

''I think sooner or later there will be a need to close the Guantanamo
[camp], and I think it will be up to the government to decide, and hopefully to
do it as soon as is possible,'' the secretary-general told reporters.

The 54-page report summarizing a probe by five U.N. experts accused the
United States of practices that ''amount to torture'' and demanded detainees be
allowed a fair trial or be freed. The panel, which had sought access to
Guantanamo Bay since 2002, refused a U.S. offer for three experts to visit the
camp in November after being told they could not interview detainees.

Annan said the report by a U.N.-appointed independent panel was not a U.N.
report but one by individual experts. ''So we should see it in that light,'' he
said.

U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the report will be presented to the
U.N. Commission of Human Rights, which appointed the panel, when it convenes on
March 13 in Geneva.

Manfred Nowak, the U.N. investigator for torture who was a panel expert, told
the Associated Press in Geneva that Guantanamo detainees ''should be released or
brought before an independent court.''

''That should not be done in Guantanamo Bay, but before ordinary U.S. courts,
or courts in their countries of origin or perhaps an international tribunal,''
he said. AP